Composite wire and process of manufacture.



UNTTED STATES PATENT Orricn.

ORLANDO M. THOIVLESS, OF NEWARK, NEIV JERSEY.

COMPOSITE WIRE AND PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 633,668, dated September 26, 1899.

Application fil d March 4,1899. Serial No. 707,795. (No specimens.)

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that LORLANDO H. THoW- LESS, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Composite Wire and the Process of Manufacture of the Same, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a new and improved composite metallic body highly refractory as regards the action upon it of heat and suitable for use in the form of wires, rods, or sheets.

The object of the invention is to produce a composite metallic body which, while being as efficient as the very expensive refractory metals now used, shall be much cheaper than any of them and capable, therefore, of more extensive application. One of its principal objects is to supply a wire which shall replace the platinum now used as support for incandescent gas-mantlessuch as the IVelsbach, for instance.

IVhen employed in the form of wire, my invention consists of a composite wire, the internal core of which is platinum or platinum iridium and whose external surface is nickel in the form known as malleable or any malleable alloy of nickelhaving a higher melting-point than nickel-that is to say, the melting-point of the alloy must be as high or higher than that of nickel when used alone. An alloy composed of platinum and nickel or of platinum, nickel, and small amounts of copper or manganese, chromium, or similar metals will answer, since they fulfill the requirements as to the melting-point.

One method of making wire under my invention is as follows: Take a platinum wire of rather small diameter-say about fourteen one-thousandths of an inch prepare a tube of the covering metal whose internal diame ter shall be somewhat larger than the diameter of the wire, and insert the platinum therein. The composite cylinder is then passed through wiredrawing holes and the two wires uniformly reduced to the proper size.

Another method consists in properly preparing both metals before the platinum is inserted in the nickel or nickel-alloy tube.

Previous to being used in the composite wire the nickel tube is treated by strong acidssuch as, for instance, a mixture composed of about twenty parts nitric, about ten parts sulfuric, and about two parts of muriatic, acid. The object of this treatment is to furnish a fresh nickel or nickel-alloy surface for contact with the inserted platinum cylinder. This treatment is not the ordinary pickling as applied usually to metals. Pickling is for the purpose of removing the oXids or other compounds that have formed on the surface of the metal, and it is well known that metals that have been simply pickled are not in good condition to make intimate union with each other. Metals, however, that have been treated by my method do make intimate union with each other at their points of contact, since my treatment removes the outer surface, thereby insuring new and bright contact surfaces. After the new surface has been produced on the nickel in order to insure it against oxidation I place it immediately in a concentrated solution of borax in water, Where it remains until ready to receive the platinum cylinder. The platinum must also be freed from all dirt and grease, so as to be chemically clean. This is effected by placing the platinum cylinder in a strong solution of caustic potash or caustic soda. After being well washed in clean water it is ready for insertion in the prepared tube, care being taken to avoid touching it with the hands. After insertion within the nickel tube the composite body can be freely handled. The platinum cylinder having been placed in the nickel tube the composite cylinder is put into a muffle and subjected to an almost incandescent heat, thereby sweating the two metals together. I have found in practice that without the preliminary treatment mentioned above it is almost impossible to sweat platinum and nickel together. I prefer to now gradually cool this composite body when it is ready to be drawn into the proper size.

As I have mentioned above, one of the principal uses to which the wire may be applied is for supporting incandescent gas-mantles and similar objects. I have shown in my application Serial No. 687,168 that a coat ing of oxids protects thin platinum wires against the action of heat. My wire has the necessary strength and rigidityas a support,

and oxid of nickel being formed gradually the thin internal platinum wire is perfectly protected against the injurious efiect of the heat and will answer any -requirements as to durability that may be made upon it. As the amount of platinum in my composite wire (diameter about five one-thousandths of an inch) is onlya little over half that ordinarily employed for mantle-supports, the economy is apparent. There is also an interaction between the nickel of the composite wire and the materials that compose the mantle that is particularly noticeable. The materials of the mantle appear to unite with the nickel, forming a new compound, which thoroughly protects the inner platinum core. No such compound is formed when platinum alone is employed for the supporting-wire.

Having thus fully set forth my invention, what I claim is Y 1. As a new article of manufacture, a composite wire having an internal platinum core temperatures, which consists in chemically cleaning the surface of a platinum cylinder,

temperatures and then forming the said body.

into wire, substantially as described.

3. The method of protecting thin platinum wires adapted to be used as supports for incandescent mantles, which consists in forming a composite cylinder having an internal platinum core and an external covering of nickel or nickel alloy, forming this composite cylinder into a wire, attaching this Wire to an incandescent mantle, and subjecting them to a high temperature, substantially as set forth.

at. In an incandescent gas-burner, the combination of a chemically-prepared mantle and a supporting-wire composed of a thin plati num core surrounded by a covering of nickel or nickel alloy.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 8d day of March, A. D. 1899.

ORLANDO H. THOWLESS.

Vitnesses:

ALBERT STETSON, \V. SEMIEN. 

